Skip to My Brit My Yankee
by strangefish
Summary: The poor GSE family never saw her coming. Their points of view of things will forever be slightly altered by this Wild, random, and energetic woman that whirled into their lives from across the pond. Bovver/OC Pete/OC Swill/OC
1. Chapter 1

Poor Matt

_Hmmmm. . . Where to now? _Thinks Ellie, as she stared at a colorful world map in the New Zealand airport.

_I think I'll go home, and then go to England. Dani should be there; it'll be nice to see her again._ So, there you have it. Back to America it was. So she bought herself a connect-it plane ticket (it's what she called them, anyway.) This meant she was stopping in Portland, and then going home; then headed to Heathrow airport. She settled back cozily into the coach seat in between the guy with the bad comb-over and the nice lady with the screaming child.

After a tearful reunion with her family with the usual _"You're leaving?? But you just got here! You couldn't spend a little time with your family? At least stay the night." _when she got home, Ellie was up at five A.M. getting ready for her flight from Portland. Finally managing to get on to her flight, after many promised extended (but not too extended) visits, she plops down in-between a teenager with headphones in and what looked like her sister arranging m and m's just so on her tray.

"You know you're going to have to put those away soon, right?" Ellie quirks an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but I'll just start over. We've got at least six hours, right?" the girl drawls.

"Yeesh, you're right. Need any help?"

…

About six hours and forty minutes later with a 15 minute waiting period, she gets on her connect-it plane at Boston, sitting now in between what could have been Frodo's stunt double and a stiff business CEO. Or it looked like it, anyway. She didn't mind stereotyping people.

After about six hours solid sleep, Ellie wakes up drooling slightly on Frodo's shoulder.

"Oh! Gosh, I'm _so _sorry! I didn't hit you, did I? I hate jet lag! Ellie gasped, sitting up really fast and hitting her head on the compartment that held the oxygen masks and dropping them down. "Ugh, dang it! I hate it when that happens," as she carefully stuffs them back into place.

"Um, it's ok, no, you didn't hit me, and how often does that happen?

"Oh, good, I don't usually hit things in my sleep, but I've been known to violently twitch," Ellie replies, rubbing her head.

"And how often does the mask thing happen?" Frodo raises his eyebrows, his mouth twitching upwards.

"Oh, every time I jump about in my seat while I'm on a plane," she chirps.

"Do you jump in your seat on planes a lot?"

"Recently, yeah," Ellie shrugs.

"Ouch, why?"

"There's usually plenty of things to be excited about while I'm on a plane."

"Like what?" asks Frodo, looking very curious.

"Like going to a country I've never been to," says Ellie simply.

"Oh… ok then," says Frodo, not sure where to go with the conversation next with this odd person.

"Hey, what's your name, anyway? "'Cause if I keep calling you Frodo in my head, it's going to stick that way."

"Oh," he chuckles, "It's Matt, I get the Frodo thing a lot."

"Oh, does it annoy you?"

"Not really."

"Oh, well that's good."

Five minutes later, Ellie has an empty can of Coke that proves to be very entertaining.

"Hey Matt, I have a question; say you bite the lip of a pop can. Why do you drool like crazy even if the can is just in between your front teeth? And please don't take that in a dirty way, I'm genuinely asking," asks Ellie as she balances it on fish-lips and the tip of her nose.

Matt sprays out the water he was about to swallow. "What??"

The can now balanced by its tab on the tip of her nose, Ellie asks, "Didn't you hear me?"

"Uh, haha, I heard you, but… how the hell do you do that?"

There was a slight jolt as the plane landed. "Huh?" Ellie looks around the plane, dropping her can. "I don't remember the warning saying we were descending."

"You were asleep, remember?" Matt gestures to the damp spot on his denim jacket.

"Oh. Yeah. Sorry about that, I'm usually a talker, not a drooler," She says, as she pulls a grimace.

"So have you been to England before?"

"Nope. But I always told my friend Dani I'd come visit her when I could. You?"

"Nope. But I decided to pay a visit to my sister since I didn't really feel like talking to my dad after getting kicked out of Harvard," Matt confided. He didn't know why it was so easy talk to her about problems he didn't even know how to deal with, but she had a certain disarming, honest air about her.

"Aw, bummer, man. It sucks that you don't want to talk to him, you should always feel that your parents will support you no matter what, but I understand. You can tell me about getting kicked out after we get off and get our stuff," Ellie replies while getting her carry-on down from the overhead shelving.

"Do you even know where I'm going? Do you even know where _you're_ going?" Matt could only be half surprised at this point, since everything she said was unpredictable.

"Nope and nope, but I gotta start somewhere, my intuition usually serves me pretty well, and I feel like following you," A slow smile was creeping on to her face.

"What if I didn't want you following me?" Matt glanced up with a slight smirk trying not to laugh.

Not even looking around, Ellie finally yanks her bag down with a final jerk, "I figured you wouldn't mind the company, you don't seem too put-off by me, and you've never been to England and probably aren't that outgoing, so that's what I'm for, even though we both know I don't know what I'm doing… but if you don't want me around, I'm sure I can handle myself. See ya around," she gets in line to disembark from the plane

"Well I didn't say I didn't want you around, I just said what if. I'm sure I'm in for a long fun afternoon," Matt adds hurriedly.

Ellie whips around with a full grin on her face and squeaks, "Yay! I didn't think you'd disappoint."

Matt eyed her warily," Should I be worried about that grin?"

"Oh, no, I just love adventuring. Especially when someone's with me," Ellies eyes glaze over in her happy state.

As Matt is shaking his head and chuckling, he just now notices how tall this girl is. She had to be about six feet tall or so. Wow. Despite her happy and bubbly demeanor, her very shape and the way she carried herself instinctively told others she was an alpha and a leader not to be messed with. "You're a big girl," Matt blurts out. _Shit! Girls hate it and freak when you say something like that. This one might be weird, but she's still a girl.. Shit, I hope she doesn't kick my ass, we're right in front of the stairs, It's gonna hurt when I'm thrown down them…_

Ellie half giggles, then groans as she looks down and says, "Ugh, I know, no matter what I do and how much weight I lose, that cup size refuses to recede.. Oh! You mean my height! Yeah, I get that a lot, it's ok, I know how big I am and how much I weigh, and I've never made that big a deal about it. No worries mate."

"Whew!" Matt blows a big sigh of relief, " I thought for a second you might just kick my ass," He says, letting out a couple nervous heh hehs.

"Oh, nah, man, I might not look it, but I'm a huge pansy. I bruise easily and whine a lot. I'm probably more worried about _you _hitting _me, _to give you an idea," Ellie admits breezily.

"Ha! I've never been in a fight in my life," laughing at the thought, Matt realized he actually had no clue what to do were he attacked.

"Really? Huh. You'd think with your size and pretty eyes and hair, you would have been a target begging for a shiner," Remarked Ellie as she eyed him curiously.

"A shiner?" Asked Matt, almost hesitant to know.

"Oh, kinda like a black eye. People use it as slang for anything ranging from a black eye to half your face bruised up."

"Oh," Wondering how she knew, Matt studied the girl a little. She wasn't a complete pansy, no matter what she said. This was apparent on the semi-defined muscles you could see on her arms when the sleeves on her tee shirt fell back a little. She wasn't skinny, but she wasn't huge, either. Matt guessed her to be somewhere around 230 pounds or so. Her redish-brown hair was gathered in a messy bun at the base of her skull. Actually, when he looked closer he wasn't sure what color her hair was. It definitely had some red low-lights, but it had some dirty blonde highlights in it too. Only the tips looked to be dyed a faded red of some sort, like she had let her hair grow out without dyeing it. When her bangs flicked out of her eyes, he saw greenish hazel irises surrounding a severely contracted pupil, which he assumed out of excitement.

"Heeellloooo…. Anyone home?" Ellie was tapping his temple with her head cocked to the side. Matt jumped out of his revere as he focused back in. "Haha, it's ok, I do that all the time," Ellie starts laughing delightedly as they were leaving the airport, Ellie with two big suitcases and her carry-on, and Matt with his one suitcase. Ellie had her biggest suitcase strapped to her back somehow, her carry-on over her shoulder, and her other suitcase wheeling behind her, yet she still seemed to be sliding and sort-of tap dancing down the sidewalk. "Eeeeeee…AAAhhhhhh…ahahahaaa… I hope we're walking; it's the best way to navigate a city. Heeeeeeee…. Ah, Michael Buble`, I love you. Haha, coincidence I have a foggy day in London town stuck in my head, gotta ove the random jukebox in my head."

"Um, yeah, we'll be riding the uhhh… tube, is what it says here toward my sisters, who's Michael Buble`?" Matt wasn't sure how he was going to explain this to his sister, she'd probably be just as confused as he was, but she might not go along with it as easily, he wasn't sure. He surveys Ellie practically vibrating on the spot and compares her to his sister… no, probably not.

"Never mind, what's your sisters name again?" asked Ellie.

"Shannon… Look, I don't know how to explain th-"

"Oh, don't worry about it. I'll see you get to her then be on my way, I've got something to do."

"Oh, well, we're meting at Banks station," said Matt as he squinted at the tube map.

"Cool. Where's that?" Ellie slows her dancing and skips a little over to where Matt stood pointing at his map, one of three that she saw in his hands. She sees where he's pointing and asks, "Here, can I see that? And those?"

"Yeah, do you want some help with those? Ill take the one on wheels so you don't have to hold it while you're looking at the maps.."

"Sure, hang on," She whips the suitcase around from behind her and stands it up so he can take the handle. "Mind you, it's a little heavy."

"No problem," Matt takes the handle, tilts the suitcase to hold it better, and not having taken her that seriously, promptly dropped the suitcase handle on his toes by tilting it too close to him.

Sighing, Ellie wonders aloud, "Am I the only one who understands the delicate relationship between suitcase and person?"

"Sorry, didn't realize it was that heavy." Matt then wondered how heavy the bigger one was.

"'S alright, everyone who knows me knows I carry heavy bags and don't even think about it. You just don't know me well enough yet."

He hands over the suitcase and maps so she can look at them, and as she's studying them, he hears her muttering, "Hmmm…k… that one's not needed.. Ok. Got it."

"Alright, so from what I understand, the tube map will be helpful if you can get a full size one rather than a display one in the corner of a brochure for a restaurant, This is a good one for tourists, since it's got little maps to what are probably ridiculously priced vendors, and this third one is written in French," She tells him as she throws the maps over her head and they land in a passing garbage truck. _Men, _she thinks, _I thought they didn't like maps or asking for directions._

Matt blushes and mutters, "Well at least there were pictures…"

"Come on, this way!" she gleefully cheers as she grabs Matt by the arm and starts skipping down the street while singing something he didn't quite catch in time with each skip.

"Wait, where are we going?" Asks Matt with difficulty, as he had to run and jump to keep from falling over when his suitcase kept hitting the back of his foot from the bounding skip Ellie had launched into.

She looks over at him and says, "We're going to find a station, Goose, what else would we be doing?

"Well why are we skipping?" Getting slightly desperate to slow her down so he could stop the pain in his foot, he starts pulling on her sleeve.

This seems to work as she comes to a halt "I dunno, seems like a good idea. Guess I should've warned you."

Matt catches his breath then sighs, "Hang on..."

"Okay!" Ellie grabs his right hand in her left and waits for him to get himself situated, humming to herself and watching Matt shake his head at what seemed to be developing to one series of head shaking a minute.

Suitcase firmly in hand, he braces himself," Okay, I'm ready."

"Wait! Before we start again, you have to sing with me. You know the song skip to my loo?"

"Yeah, my Gran used to hum it," Matt was wishing he had a doorframe or something to gently hit his head against at this point.

"Oh good, you know the tune, then. I'll skip somewhat small so you don't have to over-exert yourself. Alrighty, ready Freddy? One, Two, Three!"

Matt took a deep breath and he started skipping with her through people down the street, lowly singing loo loo skip to my loo.

"You gotta be louder than that Matt, I can barely hear you, match my tone!" Cried Ellie, grinning.

"**Loo Loo, Skip to my Loo, Loo Loo Skip to my Loo, Loo Loo skip to my Loo Skip to my Loo my darling!**" Actually starting to laugh heartily as he belted the words, he found he was really enjoying himself and being carefree while not minding if people stared, this was fun.

"Now that's better!!" Ellie shouted as she laughed along with Matt and they went singing and skipping on into the tube station and right onto the tube, where they collapsed laughing and barely breathing into adjacent seats.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Dear People, I am very sorry not to have updated. I don't particularly know why I haven't but I'm pretty sure I just wasn't sure where to go with it. But, my dears, inspiration has struck! If I have a lot of typos, I blame my mother's tiny keyboard.

* * *

Bye Matt

Practically limp in his seat and breathing a bit harder than usual, Matt flopped his head back against the window and smirked at Ellie who was beaming at him across the way.

Ellie giggled, "Ah, I _love _when people just go with me. It makes me happy"

Matt settled his arms over his stomach; scrolling his eyes over the insides of the subway they were on, letting Ellie have her apparent moment of bliss. He watched people eye her a bit warily, most inching away, but some just smiled. Looking some of the people over, he wondered why they were inching away. Then he thought about Ellie's first impression on him, and if she hadn't been talking to him he probably would have assumed she was either insane, a hit man (hit woman?), or both. Hearing her sigh, he looks over to see her still smiling. Idly, he wondered if she ever stopped.

Glancing around again, Matt asked Ellie, "Are we even on the right train?"

"Tube," Corrected Ellie, "but I dunno. I'll ask." And promptly turning to the woman next to her, queried, "Excuse me, do you know how to get to… Where was it again, Matt?" She looked over at him with pursed lips.

"Banks Station."

"Right, Banks Station, could you tell us how to get there from here?" Ellie turned back to the woman with a hopeful expression on her face.

"Sure," Replied the woman easily, "Get off stop after next, you should see a big sign with a bunch of different colored lines on it, and find the one that goes by Banks."

Ellie beamed in appreciation, "Thanks a lot. Helpfulness is hard to come by at times."

"No problem," The woman added. She leaned toward Ellie and put a hand on her arm and softly asked, "You're from the states, aren't you?"

"Yeah, both Matt and I over there, why do you ask?"

"Not everyone will be as friendly as me when they hear your accent. Just be prepared for anything from disdain to hatred," The woman warned.

Ellie furrowed her brows slightly and asked, "Why? Aren't prejudices frowned on?"

"By and large in England and against Americans, no."

"Huh. Well, thanks for all your help," Ellie's smile flew right back to her face.

"No problem," the lady smiled back.

Matt had simply been looking on at the conversation, but he missed pieces of it. All of a sudden Ellie zapped her head up and grinned at Matt.

"Let's play twenty questions!" She crowed.

"Uh… ok," was his brilliant answer.

"But this is no ordinary set of twenty questions. These are questions we ask about each other, not an object. And really, we can ask as many as we like"

"Um, alright, who goes first?" Matt had decided to just go with the flow, this looked to be interesting. And maybe he could find some sort of pattern or anything like that to her, he was becoming more and more intrigued with her the more he was around her.

"You can go first," she almost sang back.

"Alright, what's your favorite color?"

"Well that's a bit of a lame start, but purple."

"Hey, you never specified that questions had to be original," Matt defended himself.

"Just giving my perspective. Anyhoo. How did you get kicked out of Harvard?"

Matt made a face. He was going to have to explain this to Shannon, too. "My roommate was a major cocaine addict. I'm pretty sure he's a dealer, too. But somebody tipped security off and they found bags of it in my closet. He probably had it in there the whole time, just in case."

"Wow, that really sucks," Ellie grimaced slightly in a show of sympathy, "That's just a whole level of douchebaggery he's got covered there."

Matt cracked a huge grin and laughed out loud, "Ha-ha, yeah no shit, I guess."

Ellie smiled back, happy he could cheer him up. It's one of the things she liked to do in life.

"So anyway, question two," Matt mused to himself. "Why exactly did you decide to go to England?"

Ellie leaned back in her chair and relaxed against the window, looking out the window to the black tunnel wall the tube was barreling past. "Because I felt like it, mostly. I've been traveling a lot; this is just one of my many stops."

Matt noticed her suitcase then, the one he had dropped on his foot, and noticed stickers all over it. He only got to glimpse one with palm trees on it and another with the Pyramids of Giza before Ellie stood up and blocked his view.

"This is our stop," her bright eyes fixed on the platform ahead, her fingers were starting to twitch around the handles and straps of her bags while the train tube came to a stop and the doors opened. A voice over the intercom was chanting "Mind the gap" over and over, like a mantra. As people were filing out of the doorway, Ellie looked around quizzically. "What gap?" All of a sudden, the toe of her right foot went straight down a chasm between the edge of the platform and doors. Gasping, she quickly tried to jump onto the other side and right herself, but as her foot left the lip of the tube, the other side of those toes caught on the wall of said platform, thereby sending her sprawling on her face.

"Oh," her voice muffled by the surface of the floor, "_That_ gap."

Matt's hands were at her arms as he was saying, "Jeez, are you ok?" It looked like a nasty fall and he wondered if she had broken her nose.

He helped her up to find her snorting in laughter. "Man, that would have been great if someone had a camera."

Matt started shaking his head for the he didn't know many times. Even though there was a bit of resistance he convinced Ellie to sit down for a minute. They were getting a lot of incredulous looks and eye rolls.

After she had stretched and resituated her bags, Ellie looked at Matt an hopped up. "Alright, let's find that map."

"Map," pointed Matt.

"Ah! I see!" Ellie started letting forth a frenzy of hysterics. "Heeeee heeeee haaaaaa, Matt pointed out the map! Ah, I just love internal near-rhymes. Anyway, very good work, Watson!" she almost yelled in the building in an odd sort of Sean Connery voice.

"Was that a Sean Connery impression?"

"Why, yes, yes it was. An _English_ Connery, to be exact. We are Americans incognito, no?" She grinned to herself.

I don't know, I think our cover might have been blown," Matt winked up to her.

"Hey, you winked! You're getting more and more carefree by the minute," Ellie hopped about.

Matt chuckled as they made their way to their next means of transportation.

"I have another question for you."

"Shoot."

"What were you studying at Harvard?" Ellie looked at him curiously.

"Oh, journalism. I worked for the paper at school and all that," Matt replied.

"Bleh. I took a journalism class in high school and it was the only class I flunked. To this day I've stuck with creative writing. You know, fiction. Though they're practically the same thing," she teased.

"Hey, I was an honest journalist, thank you very much," Matt stuck his tongue out at her, studying the big map in front of them. "Hey, I found take the one that arrives just over there in ten minutes," he gestured off to their left.

The questions continued back and forth while they waited for their train and kept going while they were on the train, Ellie occasionally dropping her voice in various accents and even getting Matt to join in on a German one.

Almost to Banks Station Matt fired a question back at Ellie because they were going at top speed, 'What's your favorite hobby to pass the time?"

A thoughtful look came over her face as she said, "Well, I absolutely love to sing, but I have terrible stage fright, I love to read, and I seem to have a great talent for flower arranging, so I garden, too."

Matt was considering this when she threw one back, "Who's your favorite musical artist?"

Immediately blushing he mumbled back, "Next."

"Ah ah ah, that's against the rules! No skipping," She sing-songed.

"No way. Not telling."

"Why?"

"It's embarrassing. I refuse."

I'll tell you something embarrassing about me if you tell me," Ellie threw her puppy dog face in for good measure.

Matt gave in, sighing, "Fine. Avril Lavigne."

There was a beat of silence before Ellie immediately started giggling as the doors to their second tube started opening.

**Mind the gap. Mind the gap. Mind the gap. Mind the gap. Mind the gap. Mind the gap.**

"Okay, okay, I get it! Ellie grumbled as she carefully hopped over the small gap.

"See, you're laughing! This is why I never tell people." Matt complained.

"Well, I never promised I wouldn't laugh, but that's not why I'm laughing. She's one of my dad's favorites, and I don't know how much manlier looking you can get than him," Ellie smiled, still laughing in the mirth of her memory when she came home and found her dad lip syncing into her hair brush blasting Avril throughout the house. "Anyway, dad has a video of me sleep-dancing in a tutu on Christmas eve," Ellie told him in a matter of fact way.

Matt found himself nearly incapacitated by laughter as the mental image invaded his head, "Yeah, that really does make me feel better. Only you would be able to sleep-dance," he managed to say between gasps for air.

Ellie was smiling wryly down at him,"I figured it would. We're actually on the waiting list for America's funniest home videos."

"How can something like that be on the on the waiting list?!" Matt was still almost howling with laughter.

Ellie shrugged, "Ah haven't tha foggiest," in a southern accent. "Well, this is Banks station and the stairs to go to the street,"

Sobered, but still grinning Matt suggested, "Ladies first?"

Ellie cracked another grin herself, "Always," as she bounded with her suitcases at an impressive speed up the stairway.

Matt struggled after, but found she was waiting for him halfway up.

"Well come on. Don't want to be late for your sister," she encouraged.

"Hey do you want to meet her? I'd be happy to introduce you two."

"I would love that, but I'm running behind schedule. Gotta find Dani and all," Ellie smiled a bit wistfully as she glanced at her watch. Which happened to be black and green with a skull and crossed guitars.

"Oh," Matt's face falling slightly of them parting ways. "Well, I hope you find what you're looking for," he added as held his hand out to shake.

Ellie was suddenly frozen for a moment, suspended in time as though oblivious to it. Her eyes grew distant and far away when Matt had said the casual parting sentence. Find what she was looking for, indeed…

Seeing him extend his hand out, Ellie burst into an ear to ear grin as she rushed for him and gave him a bone cracking hug. "It was really great to meet you. Hope and bet we'll see each other again. It is an island country, after all," she chortled. And with that, she was already floating up the stairs and had disappeared onto the street and into the throng of people.

Watching her walk away, Matt thought to himself, _Oh, I'm sure we will see each other again. I just can't believe that's the last I'm going to see of you…_

Alrighty! Hope I shall be out with the third chapter soon! Over and out, strangefish.


	3. Chapter 3

Dear reviewers, I would have discontinued the story if not for you. Especially Jonah. Cheers!

You!

Ellie drifted down one street, then the next, just looking for a pub. _This is England, for possums sake! Aren't pubs supposed to be everywhere?! I've only found three! _Sighing, Ellie looked around the street again. _Ohhh, a pub! _And upon spotting this pub, she starts barreling forward, hoping to see familiar face.

Crash! Everyone looked at the doors to the pub to see if something had been thrown through them and if it was about to explode. After jumping in her seat near the bar, Dani looked at the door in mild interest, wondering if there'd be any action. To the amazement of most present, what had come tumbling through the door was just a mass of dark colored clothing, three traveling bags, and a massive amount of wavy bronze-ish hair.

Letting out a breath, Ellie pops her head up and looks around, "Whew! I really hope this is the right pub, because it's the fourth one I've burst into dramatically. Oh! That reminds me, TA-DA!" She throws her arms out wide, showing a copious amount of teeth.

There were a few moments of silence that accompanied open-mouthed stares. One pipe dropped to the bar with a loud clatter. A man in a corner jumped up and started clapping. "Woo, would ya' take a look at this bird, 'ere!" the man was moving toward her.

Ellie started to pick herself up off the floor when the man threw an arm around her shoulders to help her up. "My name's Swill, and I'll be you're main man around 'ere. And don't listen ta any Jack aroun' 'oo's mean 'cause you're a Yank, I can tehll you'll be like-

"YOU!!" A screech echoed through the pub, inadvertently demanding silence. Ellie looked up and around, scanning interestedly for the person having the cow and what would probably be a boyfriend getting his ass canned. To her surprise, the young woman who had shouted was glaring at _her_, chest heaving.

Ellie felt her hackles rise as she spied the girl across the room and took a slow breath as she puffed up her impressive height and narrowed her eyes. You could have sworn hissing would have come next from the looks on their faces. Instead, a grin nearly split Ellie's face in two and the two females started spazzing out and running at each other, screaming, "Ahhhhhh!!!!" in that girly way when they get excited. You know the sound.

Bewildered, Swill watched the two jump around in awkward circles, still screaming in that odd way. He looked over to a man near him, whose pipe had gone out, and looked at the man with a "what the fuck?" look on his face. The man returned a "don't ask ME" look and huffed out his newspaper, pipe relit. Shrugging to himself, Swill wove his way over to the two ladies, who had finally stopped jumping about, and said, "Wehll, it's lovely to see reunited friends, but can someone explain to me what the 'ell is goin' on 'ere?" he looked down at the two, but found he didn't have to look far for the one he'd never seen, since she was only about three inches shorter than him. "And 'oo's this, Dana?"

"Dani."

"Dani and Dana, fancy that," Swill beamed, "Whell, it's a plea-

"No, she's not Dani, I am," Dani said.

Swill looked at Ellie, "Dana?"

Dani raised her voice, "Ellie!"

Swill snapped his head back to her, "You jus' said you're Dani!"

"I am! _She's_ Ellie!" Dani seethed.

"Then where the 'ell's Dana?!"

Ellie looked around and said mildly, "Who's on first? Listen. Calm down, both of you. I'm Ellie, that's Dani and as far as I understand, you are Swill, yes? I haven't know a Dana since my freshman year of high school. Better?"

Swill smiled again, all happy go lucky and care free once more. Dani simply rolled her eyes and huffed back down to her seat.

Bouncing after her, Ellie grabbed her new friend's hand and dragged him behind. Swill looked at this woman, a slightly almost disbelieving look, but a happy one on his countenance. "So Doll, -dragging out in an American southern accent, or an attempt at one, anyway- What's your real full name?"

". True story. But everybody calls me Ellie," She threw over her shoulder, smiling.

Slightly dazed, and not having caught all that, as was her purpose, he said, "A'right, Ellie it is."

"And I'm from the pacific northwest, not the south, or even the east coast that I've heard you hate the most. So if you feel you need to make fun of my accent, do it right. Ohr ah'll give ye' a blight'!" She smartly grinned, throwing in the bad British accent just for fun.

"Aye, aye, ma'am. Quite the spitfire, 'aint ya?"

"Well, my hair's not red today, but I always have the 'tude," She waltzed after Dani. Literally. She counted to herself, " One, two three. One, two three," under her breath, spinning around and around blissfully, barely stirring the air around the people sitting at small tables. Once again, Ellie had the entire pub's attention. Opening her eyes and dropping her hands from her imaginary friend's, she looks around, "What? Oh come on, not many of you can honestly say you've never danced for no particular reason," She puts her hands on her hips, " And if you haven't, either you're boring or can't remember, and that's sad that you've lost that spark of youth."

She flopped down next to Dani, who was sipping her drink, not blinking an eye. Like most of the pub, Swill stood, bewildered, staring at this out-of-nowhere young lady. But Swill simply smiled, and almost giggled, But looked at Ellie and held his hand out, " Oi, I wanna try."

Ellie leaped up, lickety split, and shouted, "Oh boy!" although when she leapt up, the cushion promptly sank underneath Dani, bumping her butt against the hard wood, leaving her very disgruntled. Anyway, Ellie bounced over to Swill and took his outstretched hand.

Swill looked around, "Don't we 'ave some form of music around' 'ere?"

Ellie said, "Eh, we don't really need it, if there's no jukebox. Oooh! I have an ipod! Who needs a jukebox then?!"

She then goes over to her bag, flinging through all sorts of things. Swill had to duck fast to avoid being struck by a pair of purple and black striped suspenders. Dani had to catch a bottle of Oregano leaves to keep them from knocking out a poor old chap at the bar. Or at least, attempt to catch it.

Struggling toward her, Dani says with one eyebrow quirked, "You know, Ellie, this might not be such a great idea. You know your ipod is broken and stuck on shuffle. We have no idea what is going to come out of your speakers. You know you like to be around people more than you like to be alienated. Really, I'm sure we can find something, we don't need your ipod," Dani was now nervous as she watched Ellie hook up her speaker and ipod to the wall.

"Oh, quit being such a worry wart. I have Benny Goodman and stuff, it'll be fine."

"It's not Benny what's-his-bucket that I'm worried about,' Dani edged toward a far corner of the pub, ready to bolt.

"And anyway, you can dance to _any _song on my ipod if you do it right."

Right then, a song flickered to life. It just so happened to be Dr. Love, by KISS. Giggling, Ellie started skipping through songs. Trapt, Def Leppard, Poison, 3Oh!3, Shinedown, Nickleback, My Chemical Romance, Michael Jackson, Benny Goodman, ooh! There it was! She started it from the beginning and turned up the volume, skipping back over to Swill. "Ready?"

"I 'ope so," Swill chuckled.

Standing straight, then Swill copying her, Ellie starts, "Aaaand… One, two three, one, two three, one, two three…"

So while Benny Goodman's "Swing The Mood" played, Ellie pushed Swill's unwilling legs around in circles, and he kept banging into anything possible. Ellie swung to and fro and all over the place, but it just wasn't working for Swill. Ellie thought she heard something to the effect of "God forsaken Yankee mess of a song…"

Upon hearing this, Ellie let out a small growl and spun out of Swill's grasp, tripping him in the process. "I don't dance with big band insulters," she said coolly, readjusting her pony tail.

"Whell listen, I'd still like to dance, that just wasn't really my cup of tea, mate," Swill groaned, on all fours and one hand on his back.

She looked at him, lips pursed. "Well, alright then. Why don't we just try whatever comes on?"

As Ellie turned to fiddle with her ipod, Dani stepped forward. This was just what she'd been afraid of. "Elle, this was exactly what I was talking about. The odds of the next song happening to be one they might be willing to dance to is slim-

And as she was speaking, she was caught off by Aretha Franklin, moaning her way up to the starting note for 'Chain of Fools'. " Oh god, here we go…" Dani slunk back to her previous position.

Ellie slumped her shoulders and hung her head. But as Aretha began to sing, she squared her shoulders, held her arms at a 90 degree angle in front of her, and began to snap her fingers. Soon she was sliding her feet across the floor, and knees followed each foot, followed by hips, then shoulders. "Walk this way," she smiles, her Cheshire personality emerging.

Swill looked around, shrugged, and muttered "Fuck it." And to the amazement of almost all in the building, he started dancing like his inner black woman.

Terry leaned up against his bar, torso hanging over the top. He looked over at the woman who earlier had officially been established as "Dani" and watched her rub her temple with one hand on her forehead like she was hiding. Sighing, he looked over at the small group that was forming to dance. He looked back over at the girl at the back corner of the bar. "Fancy the usual Guinness?"

She shook her head, "Stronger."


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you, dearies, for more reviews. So what do you think, longer chapters that might take longer to post, or shorter chapters that I post more?**

Chapter two

About forty five minutes after Ellie and Swill had started dancing, tables and chairs had been cleared and three forths of the pub were dancing, Ellie almost smack in the middle. So far, Micheal Jackson's Thriller had come up, Leona Lewis's Bleeding Love, Stray Cats' Sexy and Seventeen, which they did a sort of square dance to, and many others. After showing first the guys, then the girls certain steps to the Tango, Wlatz, then Cha Cha, she skipped through her music for something big bandish or something like that to dance to. Then she proceeded to double check their frame and state of mind. Well, of sorts.

Ellie walked back over to Swill and brushed off his broad squared shoulders, and checked his straight spine. Seeing his somber, almost military look, she giggled and said, "You can relax, too, and loosen up, just don't lose that frame." As the music started, they started to dance again, then Swill finally got it. Still rusty, but definitely getting into it. He swung Ellie to and fro, her kicking up a leg every now and then. As Swill bent Ellie over for the final dip, the door slammed again. Swill looked up, and so did Ellie, but upside down, at the gathering of men at the door.

"What THE FUCK is this?" A man with dark hair said.

Ellie smiled. New friends!

Swill, feeling like a deer in the headlights, promptly, but accidentally, drops Ellie with a "Fump"!

"Ow."

With the spell broken, Swill looked down and hurried to help her up, apologizing profusely. The other boys looked on, most with mouths open.

Finally gotten to the standing point, Ellie brushes herself off and adjusts her clothes. Then she looked up at the newcomers, to see them properly.

Pete had agreed with Dave's outburst, but he had been speechless. He didn't even see what happened next. All of a sudden he heard a '_Hello_ beautiful!' and the next thing he knew, his body was slammed into a wall. As dust from the ceiling rained down on his head, and his back started feeling the force of impact, he looked around for the bloke who had dared start something in HIS pub. He was about to draw back a fist to punch the bastard, but found his hands pinned to the wall by his head, with considerably smaller hands holding them there with surprising force.

He looked straight ahead of him, ready to use his head if need be, and wondered why his boys hadn't come to his aid. But right then the someone in front of him moved, and his eyes snapped back to focus on them. What surprised him was he heard a hiss, then saw a few long locks of hair float up into the air, then the head flicked to the side and all hair was out of it's face. Finally, it all clicked. He became his normal casa nova as he realized he'd been rude and not returned the greeting. "'Ello there. I usually buy you a drink first, but this'll do," he grinned.

Swill cleared his throat as Ellie giggled and said, "Pete, this is Ellie. She's quite the, ah… energetic one."

"'ey tha's aright, that energy comes in handy later," He grinned even wider.

Ellie straightened up slightly, so rather than having each foot on the outside of his, trapping them, she was standing normally.

Pete, not expecting to not have to look down so far, hid his surprise by flashing a cheeky wink in Ellie's direction.

Winking back, Ellie said, "I'll take that drink."

Uh oh, Pete thought. A yank. Her accent was off, but still. They were clingy. And needy. And often emotionally unstable. Ah well. As long as he stuck with the "shag 'em and leave 'em" regimen, he should be fine. Even though he didn't use that _all_ the time, it would probably be the best way to do it this time. Plus, this one looked to be fun. So he looked at her and said, "What'll it be?"

Ellie sauntered back over to the bar and smiled at Terry. "One screwdriver Terry, if you'd please. This handsome bloke here is buying."

Terry, trying to hide his laughter because he knew this boy was WAY in over his head, obliged.

As most of the boys stood there, still dumbfounded, Danni was still off to the side, observing from afar. _What is she doing? This is a whole new level of odd for her. Plus, that one is _mine. _Though he probably has no idea I'm even in here every day. _She sighed, pushing her full shot of tequila around in front of her. She never came for the booze, she came for the show. She loved to watch all of them interact. She kept a low profile so as not to seem creepy, but she just sometimes wished he'd look her way. It seemed no matter where she went, almost always there must have been some vortex of light hiding her from most views. And almost all who saw her instantly forgot her. Excepting Terry and Ellie, along with a handful of others.

But speaking of Ellie, what _was_ she doing? She'd always been a flirt but never this… forward. Danni mused on this, trying to be unbiased as the others in the pub adjusted everything back to the norm. Was Ellie desperately needing to get laid? No, that probably wasn't it. As far as Danni knew, Ellie was almost always in full control of her sex drive. Danni thought and thought, but none of it added up.

Eventually, a thought struck her. Ellie _knew_ there was a guy that had Danni's attention, and he matched the description. It was possible Ellie had forgotten about this and was totally blown away by his good looks, but not much got by her. She might act like she has no attention span, and had not a care in the world, but she was very shrewd, always catching on to things quickly.

As Danni tried to reason this all out in her head, she heard a part of Ellie and Pete's conversation.

"So how's about a telly number, eh?" Pete said, leaning in and turning up the English accent and charm.

Thinking fast, as she had developed a plan already, she took a sip of her drink and said, "Why don't _I_ get _your_ number? I don't know where I'm staying, so you have no number to call. And I don't have a charger for the UK, so my phone's dead," fibbing that last sentence, she felt she had no choice. She didn't want her plan screwed up.

Whell, here it is, but y' could awways stay wiv me t'night, too," Pete looked at her suggestively.

Oh hell no. She wasn't one of _those_ girls. Had she come on too strong? Smiling and tweaking his nose, Ellie replied, "I think I can come up with something, but thanks."

Pete sighed and stood up, " Whell, worth a shot."

Confused, Ellie looked at him, "Where are you off to? Just because I turned you down doesn't mean you have to leave. And besides, you didn't finish your drink," she took another sip.

"Nah love, it isn't you, it's me," he grinned, ordering the rest of his drink to go. "I gotta head home. School tomrrow."

"You go to school?" She looked up quizzically.

"Yeah, I teach," He chortled, interested in her reaction.

"Wow, very nice. Wouldn't have pegged it on you, but hey, I have an Ed degree too, so I know how that goes with the usual, 'You teach?' thing," Draining the last of her glass and hopping up, she anounced, "I should probably be heading off as well. Look for a place to stay and all that. Danni!" she yelled, looking around for her companion.

Danni sighed and set her untouched shot down. Slightly irritated that her musings were disrupted, she set some money on the bar and looked over at Ellie. "Yes?"

"Can I board with you? Or do I have to take this one up on his offer?" jerking her head to Pete at the exit.

"Sure. Bugs and I have an extra room," Danni started weaving her way through chairs over to the door.

Waving to the general public of the pub, Ellie declared, "It was nice to meet you all, see you soon!" and with a wave, she gathered her things and swept out of there at Danni's heels.

Several moments passed by, and the Abbey still virtually silent, when Keith piped up, "Would someone please tell me what the hell that was?"

Surprised how late it had gotten, Ellie looked up at the dusky sky as Danni rounded on her and exclaimed, "Would you mind too terribly explaining what the hell that was?" (Probably at the same time Keith had the same query.)

Ellie simply giggled an evil giggle and tapped her fingertips together. "All in good time, my dear, all in good time."

"I knew it. I knew you were up to something. What do you have up your sleeve?"

"Do you have issues with the phrase, 'All in good time'?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. You know I don't like surprises," Danni grumbled.

"Of course I know that. I love surprises, so naturally you do not."

"Just don't… _do_ anything to him, okay? This is the one I like, you know," Danni looked at her half nervously, half sternly.

"Mmm," Ellie made the most non-commital noise as possible.

"You wouldn't.. You wouldn't… End up doing something.. Bad, would you?"

Furrowing her brows, Ellie looked sidelong at Danni, thinking along the same lines. "No. The plan I have in store is a _good_ one, I wouldn't let anything… Bad.. Happen," she replied, subdued.

Smiling and rolling her eyes, Danni laughed, "A _good _plan? You can't make a good plan. They always go horribly wrong."

Defensive, Ellie retorted, "They don't go _wrong_, they just don't go _perfectly _to plan. But then, what does?" A growing crooked grin and a raised eyebrow in Danni's direction.

"Oh, shut up. At least I don't make plans, I just get swept away screaming." Danni scoffed.

"It's called an _adventure._ You should try enjoying it when it comes along." Ellie giggled and started stuttering her steps and twirling around, bags flying around dangerously.

"The only reason adventure comes my way is 'cause you come dragging trouble, headaches, and thrown shoes wherever you go. Which hit me, by the way, because I stand next to you. Why do I do these things with you? It never ends well for me. Remember that Italian man that really liked you and you used me as a diversion? Remember how close that was?" Danni was starting to swat at Ellie now, building up steam over their near misadventures together.

Ellie, having stopped dancing in the middle of the street because her feet had caught three times on the cobbles, replied defensively, "It was the best plan of action that I had, plus, it was funny." She had the same look on her face Jack Sparrow did when the announcer of his execution had mentioned the incident when he had to impersonate a clergyman.

"It was _not_ funny. I thought I was going to die."

"Oh, you so were not going to die, and you knew it. He wanted to take you out to lunch, for god's sake. I fail to see how that was a life threatening situation," Ellie was trying really hard now to hide her laughter.

"Oh really. If that were the case, then why did you get him to go after me and not you? And for that matter, how the hell did you get him to change from you to me? That's still beyond me," hands on her hips, Danni looked over to Ellie, harrumphing at the sight of her rolling on the ground howling with laughter and making odd hissing noises. Nudging her with the tip of her boot, Danni rolled her eyes and said, "Alright come on, time to go find Bugs. Her pub closes down soon, we'll need to catch her," and with that, Danni spun on her heel, lost her balance, and would have fallen to the ground if Ellie hadn't grabbed her arm.

"Do you know how long ago you would have broken your hip if I weren't there to catch you all the time, old lady?" Ellie teased, poking Danni in the arm. "I'm amazed you made it this long without me."

"Pfft. I've been fine. Bored, but fine," she stuck her tongue out at Ellie.

"Bored, eh? I dunno how bored I'd be with that bit of eye candy in front of me every day. At least, I assume you've seen him nearly every day for a while now," Ellie grinned.

"Oh god, here we go," Danni groaned.

"Nah, I'm not gonna bug you too much about it, it's not really here nor there. I've got my plan, and it's going to work." Pursing her lips, Ellie put on her "Deep In Thought" face. "I'm not sure about time parameteres, but that's always the unknown factor in most things that are connected with me, huh?" she grinned again at Danni. Danni just shook her head and decided not to ask. Yet. Right then, however, they rounded the corner just to stop suddenly to prevent a man from falling on them.

"Bugs!" Ellie yelled, running towards her after droppping her bags. Danni looked to her left and sure enough, there was Bugs, five foot five and enveloped in an Ellie hug. Drawing back, Ellie laughed, "Why were you throwing a man out a door?"

"He was causing trouble, same as you always do. How _are_ you, baby girl? I haven't seen you in _soooo_ long! Come in, come in, both of you. You'll always be welcome here, you know that," The lady named Bugs was smiling one of the biggest smiles anyone who knew her had ever seen. She ushered both of them in, one on each arm. A few hugs later, Ellie Stretched her arms and yawned.

"So how's that jet-lag? Quite the journey from PDX Portland to Heathrow," Bugs passed Ellie another bottle of water from the bartender from her seat of the bar stool next to Danni.

"Ugh, I _am_ fairly tired, but it's not too bad. Could be from getting too much sleep on the planes, too. Oh, that reminds me, I gotta tell you about this guy I met at the plane that probably has no idea what the hell happened to him after he talked to me…"

As Ellie finished her story about poor Matt, Danni snapped her head up, "Oh no, I forgot to feed Royal this afternoon! I bet he's starved! Come on, let's go, it's late anyway," she gestured for Ellie to come along.

"Oh Ellie, make sure you air out the blankets before you turn in," Bugs waved goodbye.

Ellie smiled and kissed her cheek. She didn't even have to ask. "See you later, Bugs!"

Somewhere you got a brother sister friend grandmother niece or nephew just dying to be with you. You know there's someone out there who unconditionally religiously loves you so just hold on because you know its true. And if you can take the pain you can withstand anything and one day stand hand in hand with the truth.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N Hey guys, sorry the entire last chapter was underlined, I don't know what was up with that. And I updated that chapter at somewhere around 3:45 in the morning, So the last bit of writing on there were song lyrics, and I forgot to delete them off. But, it's true. Somewhere out there you've got SOMEBODY who loves you and wants to be with you. (Whether romantic or not, I almost never think romantically when it comes too such things) That being said, on with the story! Oh, and by the way, I goofed, Royal's a boy.

After much catching up and hugs, Ellie and Danni manage to make it home. Ellie smiled and picked up her bags, following Danni. Then, bolted, a frenzied blur for the nearest bathroom. Danni grabbed one of Ellie's bags, dragging with all her might to bring it further into the house. Raising her voice toward the general direction of the bathroom, Danni said, "I assume you remember where everything is."

"Yup. Unlike some people, I remember things about other people's houses, like where it actually is, for example," came from the other side of the door.

"Yeah, well, shut up. Ngh!" Danni grunted, still pulling on one of Ellie's bags. "How the hell do you carry all this shit around? Reminds me of school."

Hearing a chuckle, Danni looked over her shoulder to see Ellie standing right there, taking the bag from her hands. "You're just a weenie," She hefted the bag over her shoulder.

"You know I hate it when you do that vampire thing. And shouldn't you not be lifting heavy stuff over your shoulder with that torn muscle thingy?" Danni put her hands on her hips.

"What vampire thing?" Ellie asked too-innocently.

"You know what I mean. How you can be so silent is beyond me. Then again, maybe it's because you make so much noise _all of the time_ that you can be silent as the grave on command for brief moments," Danni glared, hands still firmly planted on her hips.

"Hey, I resent that. I can be quiet, I save one day of the year every year where I don't speak a word. You do it sometimes, too. And I can't explain it either, but it sure comes in handy in a tight spot when you need to be completely silent. Like remember that time a guy from the French Foreign Legion kept following us? Came in handy then, didn't it?" Ellie had a victorious look on her face, knowing she had proven a point.

Rolling her eyes, Danni drawled back, "You do _not _know for sure that he was from the Foreign Legion. I'm not even sure it exists! Are you sure this isn't one of your conspiracy things?"

"It is not a conspiracy," Ellie huffed, crossing her arms. "We're just lucky for my silent talent and my rudimentary French. Anyway, I'm-

But at that moment, Ellie couldn't finish her sentence, since she was distracted by a deep throated _Woof!_ and she was on the ground with hot dog breath in her face.

"Oof!" A breath of air whooshed out of her lungs, and her head bonked into the wood floor beneath her. Then her eyes focused in, and a huge grin nearly split her face in two. "Royal! Oh, boy, you don't know how much I've missed you!" Giving the hound a fierce hug. Royal pulled back the tiniest bit with a few almost howls and looked her seriously in the eye. Giggling, Ellie squelched her eyes shut as Royal skimmed his nose over every inch of her face and then started licking her, chin to hairline. "Okay, okay, boy. Okay! I get it, you missed me too. Now back up now, come on," Ellie motions, waving her hands backwards and watching the dog awkwardly waddling hind legs first. Ellie wobbled to her feet unsteadily, she had momentarily forgotten how tired she was. She leaned against the massive dog, picking up her bag once again. Changing her mind, she momentarily put down her bag to go look for some fresh fruit to freshen her up a little. Mango in hand, she grabbed her suitcase again.

Feeling sympathy when she saw how tired Ellie was, Danni dropped her pose and grabbed the two smaller bags and dragged them up to the spare room. Ellie dragged the suitcase and her feet up the stairs, finally completely out of steam._ Thump.. Thump.. Thump.. _Went the suitcase ever so slowly up the stairs. Halfway up the stair however, Ellie felt the weight of the trunk lift, and she looked over her shoulder to see royal give her a half wag of his tail, trunk handle in his jaws. Ellie let out a small almost breathless giggle, reminded of how much she loved the fluffy hound. One of the only steady males that had ever been in her life. Finally making it to the top of the landing, Ellie leaned back to try and loosen up her sore back, while reaching with her right hand to massage her left shoulder, where she had mangled the muscles there her freshman year of high school. She staggered forward another two steps, and realized she was way too out of breath. She hadn't even climbed the stairs that fast. She half turned toward Royal, who let out a small whine, unsure if his good friend was alright. Ellie was trying to breathe, but it kept hitching, she couldn't even gasp. It was almost like hiccupping with your mouth shut. Thoughts starting to run into each other, Ellie's eyes started to flutter as her legs gave underneath her, slowly twisting her down in an oddly graceful fall toward the carpet.

In a reflexive, last ditch attempt to stay upright, she dropped the suitcase and reached out to the wall to try and catch herself. Royal, his whines getting bigger and bigger, stuck his head under one of her legs in a valiant attempt to catch her. And while this was hardly possible, it did turn her on her side so she didn't get her six foot body stuck in a four foot space. Royal had seen Ellie fall many times before, but never like this. Knowing something was wrong now, he bolted up the stairs as fast as his muscles could push him, barking furiously. He knew he wasn't supposed to run in the house, but his canine senses overrode this. Danni was upstairs, cleaning things and airing them out, assuming Ellie had stopped to pet Royal. But hearing him start to bark, the sheets that were in her hands fell to the floor and she turned to run down the stairs, meeting royal right outside her door.

Growling loudly, Royal grabbed Danni's pant leg and dragged her back down the stairs. They came back to Ellie, who was twitching violently, not breathing on the floor. Ellie no longer saw anything clearly, just blurs of colors, framed by black splotches that looked like smoky bats flapping her way. Idly, in a moment of mental clarity, she thought to them, 'Are you my escorts to Hell, then? I know I didn't go to church often, but damn, Lucy could have at least sent Imps or something. But no, I get bats." While she was thinking this, it seemed every muscle was contracting and relaxing as fast as humanly possible. About this time, Danni came to her senses once Royal bit her to jump start her into action. Running over to Ellie, she checked to see if she was breathing at all. No. Attempting CPR, Danni put her hands on Ellie's diaphragm, but she might as well have been trying to get a rock to breathe. All her muscles were seized up. Not even giving it any thought, Danni tears into Ellie's trunk, looking for some sort of medication. She prayed to any sort of higher power it was in there, she knew her friend didn't have much time.

Desperate, Danni was tearing through Ellie's bottom layer of clothes, her underwear, and was about to toss a pair of boxers behind her when she felt something heavy. Shaking them out, she found a box of small syringes with a lot of tiny typing on it. EpiPen. It might not work, but Danni didn't have many options. It was now or never. Danni decided to take her chance, Ellie had mere seconds left to her, it had been at least four and a half minutes since the attack had started. "But where to inject it?" Danni thought to herself. "Neck, no, too risky. Leg! Major artery in leg!" Not hesitating a millisecond more, Danni stabbed the needle into the inside of Ellie's leg, holding it steady when it gave an involuntary jerk. She evenly pressed on the syringe, forcing it down. When it was empty, Danni flung the needle off to the side, waiting, crouched on her hands and knees, frozen with fear, staring at Ellie's face.

After about a second, Ellie's twitching came to a halt, but so did everything. What air was left in her body exhaled, almost all her muscles relaxed, with a couple final twitches, she rolled halfway onto her back, completely still. Danni sat there a moment, her thoughts completely empty. Hollow. Stuck in disbelief. Royal started to whine, louder and louder, until he was howling. Jerked out of her reverie, Danni scooted herself forward, half grunting, half sobbing. In complete denial, Danni went to put her hands on her again for another attempt at CPR. Danni's hands had barely brushed Ellie's shirt when Ellie's upper half rose upward by what looked like her shoulders, Drawing in the biggest gasp of air she had ever taken. Flopping her head forward, she continued to heave huge gusts of air in and out of her lungs. Her hair swaying toward and away from her face, Ellie was propped up on her elbows.

The fact that Ellie was alive sinking in, Danni flung her arms around her neck, slamming Ellie to the floor, bonking _both_ their heads.

Both of them shaking, and Ellie reaching up to pat Danni on the shoulder, Danni was just whimpering, "Oh my god, Oh my god" over and over. Then, pulling back, she said louder, "Oh my god. Why didn't you tell me? What the hell was that? _Why _the hell was that?" she just looked at Ellie, waiting for some sort of explanation.

Ellie just kept staring straight ahead, still breathing, and having a new appreciation for it, at that.

"Hello? You have some explaining to do, missy," Danni crossed her arms.

Ellie just waved her hand as if to wave her away, she wanted room. She couldn't talk just yet. It was like having the wind knocked out of you times a hundred.

"Don't you just wave me away! This is serious shit! You almost die-"

At this point Ellie just reached out a hand to cover Danni's lips with her fingers. She'd done this before, and it was her signal to shut up.

"It… never… came.. up!' Ellie gasped hoarsely.

Danni's eyes narrowed and a low growl came from somewhere in her chest as she took Ellie's shoulders in hand and started to shake harder than she should have, because Royal started growling. Taking a deep breath, Danni folded her hands in her lap and leaned back.

Likewise, Ellie took a deep breath and said quickly, "There really wasn't an opportunity to say anything. Plus I forgot." Steadying her breathing and almost speaking normally, she continued, "Am I just going to mention, 'By the way, I have this severe allergy to some unknown thing that my doctors can't figure out'? I was having waaayyy too much fun to think about too many bummer things," Ellie glanced up at Danni, since she was still mostly prone. She was still being glared at, but it didn't look like she had been kept alive just to be throttled anymore.

"And just how many medical issues do you have that I need to know about?" Danni was still glaring.

Ellie grinned, she was feeling better already, though she was definitely more tired than she was ten minutes ago. "Well, I tell everybody I'm allergic to broccoli and brussel sprouts, but you know how I am with that," she was starting to push herself up, and so she did, very slowly up the wall, with a little help from Royal. Danni just watched, she didn't think she would be more help than harm, and for a brief moment, paused to admire her best friend. They were both troopers usually through any sort of medical hardship, though Ellie was usually more foolish. Foolish in the sense that she would try to walk a week after being hit by a bus and getting her spine broken in three spots. Or something like that. She knew when she needed to heal, she just didn't usually care. Danni sighed and started picking up Ellie's clothes that she had thrown about and putting them away. Danni was just folding clothes, not paying attention to what her hands were doing, thinking hard. Allergies? The only thing she knew Ellie was allergic to was bees, and she had a very mild milk allergy, but that didn't stop her from constantly eating dairy products. Hmmm… What had she just been doing? It was probably something she ate, or breathed in, the former more likely, you had to have stuff in your system for that bad of a reaction. It couldn't have been anything on the plane, or the Abbey, that would have taken way too long. Bug's pub? No, that couldn't-

Danni had just turned back down the hall looking for more clothing, when she stepped down and heard a _squelch._ Looking down to see what would give her such a disgusting feeling of something oozing beneath her toes, Danni saw one pulverized mango that was already bitten into. "Ewwww," Danni groaned. "I hate getting goo in between my toes!" Letting out a frustrated growl, she hopped to Ellie's room and threw the clothes in her hand onto the bed, then hopped all the way down the stairs to the bathroom so as to not get fruit juice everywhere. Physical pain was not enough to tempt Danni into spreading messes in her own house. The squished fruit was bad enough just sitting there while she had to wipe her foot off. Vigorously scrubbing in between her toes with a vengeance, she finally gets her foot clean. Then after a vigorous cleaning of the carpet, Danni flopped into bed fully clothed, exhausted.

A/N: By the way, don't any of you go thinking that any one of your reviews goes unappreciated. I can't send emails to you all to tell you this, so I figured I'd say it here.

I'm a _little_ nervous about this one, I'm not sure if you guys will like it. Ah well, here goes.


	6. Notice again

Notice Again

Sorry folks, I've done it again. I've altered chapters 4 and 5 just the tiniest bit because I had waaayyyy too much going on all in one day, so I decided to break it up a bit. It messes with the movie storyline a little, which is exactly what I didn't want to do, but ah well.

So instead of Matt arriving and getting in that fight, he has a pleasant reunion with the family, and gets in the whole Pete mess the NEXT day, and Steve and Shannon have their planned date the next day, and so on and so forth.

But! I promise the story will be no worse for the wear, and it'll even balance out so I don't have super action packed chapters and then really boring nothing's-going-on chapters. Hopefully. Events will happen as scheduled, so other than that, the storyline will remain intact. If you want, please skim through the last two chapters to make sure you get that instead of someone coming to the door, the day had already progressed to the point where it was getting really late, so after the allergic reaction, Ellie and Danni are both in bed. I promise, more humor and action shall ensue in the next chapter, I'm about halfway done.

I love you all very much, thanks for your time.


	7. Chapter 6

A/N: Thanks for the confidence, Queen, I really appreciate it. =D And Jonah, as always, I love you. J You make me smile. By the way, I keep forgetting to put this, but Cambridgegirl16 practically co-authors this, she's the source of most of my ideas. Or she makes them better, anyway. And I'm trying to make this as similar to the movie storyline as possible, so it's like the girls were there the whole time, you just didn't get to see them. ;)

The next morning, Danni rolled over and groaned from the light shining through her half open blinds right into her eyes. She had just slammed them shut and flopped back onto her pillows with an, "oomph" when the doorbell went off. Feeling very well like punching a hole through the wall with every high pitched _ding dong_, she was murderously and methodically planning out certain slow deaths to whosoever dared to wake her at the ungodly hour of… 1:27 p.m. Danni hesitated, staring at the clock. How the fuck had she managed to sleep so long? Good thing it was Sunday, she hated being late to work. Shaking these thoughts clear from her brain, she continued to stomp and grumble her way to the door. She figured if the wild snarled hair and blood shot eyes weren't enough to scare the little shit away, just wait 'till she could get her thoughts in order enough to speak. Or yell.

Yanking the door open, she flinched again at the bright sunlight. Wasn't one of the main reasons she'd moved here was so she could _avoid_ the sunlight? While her vampyric nature had her shying away, she was unable to see what heathen had dared disturb her until she heard it speak.

"Dana, right? I came to-

Letting out a small shriek of disbelief and rage, Danni straightens up, steps into the doorway, pushing him back, and points her eyes and finger towards the sky, " YOU'RE JUST _FUCKING_ WITH ME, AREN'T YOU?" Letting out another furious shriek, she turns on her heel and slams the door in a dumbfounded Pete's face.

Slowly blinking, Pete looks around himself, wondering how on earth she could have mistaken him for a prankster or some sort of salesman. He certainly didn't look the part of either. Approaching the door once more and ignoring the doorbell in the middle of the door he just pushed, he raised his fist to knock. Just as his hand was about to connect again to the door, it swung open wide again, rather violently. Seeing "Dana's" usual glare again, he takes about half a step back, trying to be disarming, "'Ello, love, I just wanted to bring back-"

But before he could announce what he was doing and whom for, the jacket he had come to deliver back to Ellie was ripped out of his hands, faster than he'd ever seen any bloke throw a punch. Unconsciously, the poor bastard leaned forward, trying to continue his sentence, when the door was literally slammed in his face. Bouncing back a little, Pete starts rubbing his forehead and nose, simply wondering. No real train of thought to speak of, but it would have been something along the lines of, "What the 'ell.."

Shaking his head slowly, Pete starts to turn back toward the street, when he sees something on the wall next to the door fluttering. A paper sign over a cream colored knob with a homemade message scrawled in purple and blue colored pencil, "Ring THIS doorbell and DIE." Another doorbell? This he had to see. Almost chuckling out loud to himself, he knew who must have written that little sign. Only hesitating a moment, Pete swung back around and firmly pressed his finger on the knob, not prepared in any way for what he heard.

"_Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, had a very shiny nose.."_ A very chipper voice sang inside the house. Also heard right after the word nose at the exact same time were a bellowing roar of laughter from upstairs and a very loud crash from downstairs, drowning out any profanity that might have ensued. More crashing sounded, it sounded like pots and pans. Amongst the crashing also came the sound of a series of unsteady thumps. Meanwhile, the cheery Christmas jingle kept on singing away, and Peterson Percival Dunham had to struggle very, very hard not to bust up laughing at all the sounds of mayhem inside that he had caused.

The unsteady thumping that our Petey had heard would have been Ellie, whom was first re-awoken by Danni's screaming at the sky, then upon hearing the doorbell. She had launched herself out of bed as fast as her weak self could go to save whatever poor soul had ignored Danni's sign to see if she could save their life. Stumbling down the stairs unsteadily, Ellie cut off Danni right before she managed to reach the door once she had untangled herself from numerous falling pots and pans she had somehow knocked down. The door being yanked open once again, Pete was now awarded with a flushed, shaking, and breathless Ellie, with a particularly menacing looking Danni at her shoulder. Well, sort of. You couldn't see _all_ of Danni's face if she were right behind Ellie's shoulder, but you could see most of it. Ellie picked on Danni about this all the time.

Ellie, finding that the pretty boy was back, brightened up with a grin to match his. The doorbell was just getting around to the part about one foggy Christmas eve when Ellie yelled over it, "It plays through the whole song. We never figured out how to shorten it." She leaned her head against the door, thoroughly out of breath.

"Well, I just came back to return your jacket that ya left at the pub. Got your address from Terry," he smiled. "You a'right, love? You look pale," he squinted at the slightly green Ellie.

Hearing a small growl that was more of a hiss, Ellie was aware Danni was no longer at her back. Wary of this, Ellie stepped forward out of the house, forcing Pete backwards, so she could have the closed door guarding her back. Snapping her eyes back to his, she replied, "Oh, yeah, just a little woozy from an allergy of mine. Well that was thoughtful of you, bringing that back all the way here when you had to go meet your brother." She clasped her hands behind her back and shifted her weight to her right leg. "I see you've met Danni," she looked up at him grinning, bouncing slightly.

"Don't think on it, was no trouble bringin' it 'ere, it's actually on my way. Yea', is she a'ways like that?" he smirked, flicking his eyes to the door.

"I'd say no, but… You'd have to get to know her. You're lucky, you know, I may have just saved your life from her wrath," leaning in and winking at him.

Pete just chuckled and looked like he was about to say something, but just then the door creaked open and Ellie saw Pete's eyes widen. Ellie turned around with an eyebrow raised, just in time to see Danni swing and stab a pair of wicked looking Sai knives perpendicularly above and below the seams of the doorbell, effectively prying it halfway out of the wall. Victory written all over her face, Danni re-gripped the knives, and twisted hard. All of the last two words left of the song faded and died, but so did all the electricity on their street, house by house.

Taken aback with an, "Oh shit" look on her face, Danni lets out a, "Whoops."

Closing her eyes and letting out a small growl whilst pinching the bridge of her nose, Ellie said, "Our insurance does not cover PMS."

The same neighbor from earlier stuck his head out of his window as previously done and shouted, "Oy! Not fuckin' again! When you thick 'eads gonna get it? Always causin' all this trouble-"

"Oh fuck off, Bill, no one asked you!" Danni gestured over to the next house, using the blade in her hand as a middle finger.

Pete, at this moment in time, I was becoming more and more wary of these two women. He had met both only the day before and he didn't see himself figuring either of them out anytime soon. He wondered somewhere in the back of his head what other wicked tools they might have had in the house and what they'd been used for. But on the forefront the was thinking about the match he had to go to today and the money he needed to get. He was just about to say goodbye when as Danni was still waving about the knife in her hand, Ellie neatly and lightly plucked it out of her hand. Almost laughing in disbelief, he watched as Danni turned half toward Ellie again and Ellie lightly tapped the back of Danni's head with the hilt.

"Hey, you be careful, that's my limited edition Elektra Wishing Well knives," Danni took a defensive stance with the other blade in hand.

"Yeah, and I gave them to you," Ellie replied scathingly, rolling her eyes. "If we're fencing, we're getting real swords, we only have one set of Sai Knives. And we're doing it in the back, and not in front of company," Spinning back around to Pete again, she flattened the blade against her arm in the resting position, spinning it in her fingers as she smiled and gave him a quick hug, "Thanks again for bringing it back by, I'm sure you've got to go." And with that, the two ladies opened up the door and marched back into the house, not caring about the power outage. One of them would fix it later.

Pete was still fairly blank, still paralyzed in a position with his arms half open from the unexpected hug. Swords? What _did_ they have in there? Shaking his head, he head toward his bruv's house, his original goal. Hm, that Danni. When she wasn't screaming, she didn't have an altogether unpleasant voice. And that Ellie, mate, she was something else. Incredible. Unbelievable. Curves in all the right places, and were they curves! In the small instant of their hug she had felt so _warm._ And soft. He had definitely made a move up delivering that jacket rather than leaving it at the Abbey for her to pick up later. But.. On the other hand.. Swords, Sai knives? What else did they have? These girls didn't seem like the forgiving type if a fellow went awry with them. And who knew? They could have spent years studying karate or some shit like that. Or even assassins, just temporarily out of work. Hell, he knew nothing about these two, and at this point, he wasn't sure anything could surprise him. Best take it slow, if take it at all..

About that time Pete's overactive imagination was interrupted by his brother's house in sight. Grinning and falling back into his obnoxious self, he let the fog of the two unknown ladies disperse from his brain. He needed money.

A/N: I know it's SUPER duper short, but the reason I haven't been updating is my step-mom blocked off my parents account on the computer, where this chapter was stored, and I didn't get the chance to access it 'till now. So I figured I might as well post it as is, rather than risking being cut off from it again. I hope to post the next chapter soon. And again, if you're at all confused, refer back to the notice I posted about how I rearranged the chapters a bit and skim through them, just to make sure you're on track.

Lots and lots of love, Strangefish.


	8. Chapter 7

A/N: Okay, so I've decided to mess with the movie a bit. I won't mess with the important stuff, but little random bits will be warped and such things. But the storyline will stay the same, mostly. Ya'll 'll see.

Chapter 7

Pete waltzed right into his brothers house, taking no notice of the murmured, .."Fuck are you doing here?.." No, he just sashayed right into the kitchen, of course saying hello to his dear brother, he _was_ here for his money after all. Grinning and grabbing a beer, he greets Shannon in his usual sort of way, and turns, actually paying attention to a new introduction. What the fuck was this bloke wearing? Ah, had to be a yank.

And there was Ben. Blimey, he loved that little bloke. Who knew there could be something so innocent and adorable to share his genetics? His _brothers_ genetics? Who knew the once fucking insane Major would be reduced to a pile of gooey mush, going goo goo over some bird and baby? He wasn't really much to talk, mind. The GSE didn't define you as a person, fuck, he adored his nephew. He doubted he could ever have a shot at his own bouncing smelly bundles, but a bloke could dream. But that would involve settling down. Not that he was completely opposed to the idea, marriage for some people was great, but he doubted he could ever find a bint he could stand to be around long enough to ever make her his little missus. He shuddered. Ah, great there goes Shannon, taking the fun away, like usual. "See ya la'er, Ben," he grinned.

Turning, Pete looks the American up and down, sizing him up a bit. Looks a bit gay, he thought to himself. "Fahne, Thahnks," he laughed. He shook his hand anyway, not much of a grip. Ah well, probably raised up nice and clean, maybe some sort of junior businessman.

Oh fuck no. There was no way he was taking this yank to the match with him. He'd have to find a way to sluff him off somehow. Give him a bit of the cash and let him have whatever fun these yanks had when they weren't appreciating football like they should. So he walks a bit down the road, mostly to appease Steve, looks back to make sure they're out of sight, and confronts this small problem that was interfering with his day.

"Look mate, I'm not being funny, but you're pissin' in the wind if you fink I'm taking you to the match wiv me," Pete glares at Matt, with an almost exasperated venom. Shrugging his coat further onto his shoulders, he looks at Matt, waiting to see if he would give in easily.

"Well I'm not giving you the money," Matt said somewhat quietly. He had never really been one for conflict. He looked like some shy girl that was trying to deflect a loud drunk from hitting on her.

Figuring he might as well go for the full intimidation tact, Pete uses his body to corner Matt against the wall, staring Matt down with eyes that were just a shade more piercing than his own. Getting a little louder, Pete returns, "You ain't really got a fucking choice, mate. You're starting to get on my tits. Now as I said before, _give me half the money._" He starts to curl his lips a little, almost starting to growl.

Matt, now starting to resemble a frantic rabbit cornered by a coyote, looks wildly around and said without thinking, "Cops!" and in fight or flight mode, desperately kicks out a leg to try and bring Pete down. It might have worked, too, if Pete had no reflexes.

Catching Matt's foot as it hits hip level; Pete looks down, hardly able to believe this yank had just tried to pull a fast one on him. If this was how intelligent all yanks were, he was giving up on those girls right here and now. Laughing loudly, he looks at Matt's leg then at his frightened face and remarks, "Well how fucking stupid do you feel now? Come on then, dance for me, Yankee!" He was having too much fun. He flips him on his side, quick as a flash, and leans over him, saying a little quieter, but still laughing at him, "Serves you right for fighting like a bleedin' tom. But try that again, an' I will kick. The shit out o' ya'."

Coughing, Matt looks up at him, "Yeah, the Tom out of me, I get it."

Rolling his eyes and laughing, Pete helps him up. Maybe he wasn't completely hopeless. Walking on after a few more words exchanged, they head to the Abbey. Pete just hoped he wasn't putting himself into too big of a shithole.

So a few blocks later, Pete explains Matt to just essentially shut up and stay that way. He may have been distant family, but he still didn't want to have to look bad in his place of business. They walk through the door, Pete prepared to make his loud entrance and Matt prepared to try and stay out of the way, but when they walked in, Pete hears his boys let out a roar. Assuming that maybe they saw him walk in and were greeting him, he rounds the corner with a big grin on his face, only to have some of the lads backs turned to him, like they were all loosely huddled. Sauntering closer to see what they were all laughing at, he was about a foot away when the guys noticed him. But before any of them could say anything, Ellie exploded up from her spot where she had dramatically flopped to the floor, telling a story.

"And _then_, we found a tattoo just above his butt that said 'Property of the Yale swim team' and-"

But she was cut off by Pete saying with a slightly slack jaw, "Ellie?"

Matt jerks his head up from looking at nothing in particular and stepping forward from where he had lingered behind, "Ellie?" He could hardly believe his ears, and he wanted to laugh out loud. He knew they'd run into each other eventually, but he didn't expect it so soon. "Ellie!" Matt stepped forward, laughing heartily now.

"Mattie!" Ellie yelled over the warm and loud atmosphere. Fully re-establishing her balance, Ellie then vaults herself forwards, running into Matt's arms for a big hug.

Still slack-jawed Pete had unthinkingly opened his arms when he saw Ellie running towards him, but she had blown right by him. Staring stupidly after Ellie and kinda glancing back at his mates, the expression that oozes onto his face is that of a kicked puppy. Arms still held halfway open, sad expression in place, in a pathetic voice he slightly whines, "Petey?" He was absolutely befuddled that Ellie had run right into the Yankee-boy's arms when it was _him_ she had been flirting with. Maybe they had history in the States. Regaining most of his swagger, but still a bit surly and sulky, Pete steps toward the two, who were still freaking out about seeing each other like little girls. Glancing between them, he said, "'Ow do we know each other, then?"

Still grinning, Ellie broke away from Matt a bit while still having an arm thrown around him and replied, "Oh, Matt and I met on the plane here. He kept me entertained. Once you crack his shell, he's quite the travelling companion." Ellie was still grinning, but it had gone crooked, the way it always did when she smiled for more than a few seconds straight. Pete wasn't sure he'd seen anything cuter.

Thinking he was being sly, Pete casually tossed his arm over Ellie's shoulders the opposite direction Matt's was going, effectively causing it to slide off. Steering her back toward the table, he smiled, "Well, these here are the boys. This is-

"Oh I know. We've been getting to know each other quite well," Ellie smiled sweetly. "That's Davey, Swill Swill, Ikey, Keithers, Neddy, and you're just the cutest little Petey anybody ever saw!" She raised herself up just slightly on her toes so she could be eye level to his nose and pinched his left cheek like some adoring great aunt. The boys, having not heard their new nicknames yet, hadn't known what to think until they heard her talking to Pete the way one would to a cute puppy. It was then and there that they all knew Pete had no idea what he was reckoning with.

Dave, deciding this is where he would cut in, raised his voice to be heard, "So are you going to introduce the piss'ead you brought along with you when you interrupted a perfectly good story?"

"Oh, lads, this is Matt, Shannon's bruvver. Matt, you 'eard all these blokes cutsey new nicknames, but this is Dave, Swill, Ike, Ned, and the one wiv the dodgy 'aircut is Keif," Pete gestured to and fro with his arm, while Ellie ever so discreetly slipped out of his grasp. It didn't go unnoticed by everyone though. Swill and Matt weren't so oblivious. Pete, noticing a second later that Ellie had ducked out of his arm and walked the other way called after her, "Oi love, where do you think you're going?" charming half-grin in place.

Rolling her eyes and turning half back around, "If you must know, all these drinks these nice boys are buying me are going right through me," she grinned and shot them all a cheeky wink before disappearing to the other side of the crowd.

Pete, expecting to get the usual, "Good on ya', mate!" and cheers, was still half grinning as he sat in his usual spot, but was immensely surprised when there was a beat of silence and then an outburst of laughter. The guys had merely looked at Pete, looked at all of each other, and busted up. "Wot?" Pete looked up, confused. What'd they find funny?

Dave finished a swig of his beer and shook his head. "Nuffin, mate, nuffin."

Getting the feeling he was being laughed at, he smirked and chuckled, "Pretty fit, right boys?"

"I'm not too sure about this one mate..." Swill started slowly. "Somefin' tells me you're in over your head. Oi! There's Bovver!"

And sure enough, the miserable faced man had on his usual grimace, cigarette in hand. And right behind him, unnoticed by everyone, was Danni, hovering at the edges, not quite near enough to be thought of as included with that group. She had come to drop off a key to the house for Ellie; she didn't want her out of doors, who knew where she'd wander off to. She knew Ellie had to be here. She had gotten dressed, yelled "I'm going out!" while Danni was in the shower, and left, the cheater. She wasn't even supposed to be out of bed, let alone vigorously imbibing alcohol. Another reason Danni knew she wasn't just wandering around London was Royal was waiting for her right outside the door, probably to escort her back home. Seeing that Ellie was not sitting with them, she turned back toward the bar to hand the key off to Terry. He'd know who to give it to. As she was walking back past, she knocked her shoulder roughly into Bovver, paying him back for rudely grabbing the door handle just before her on the way in and then not even holding the door open.

Had he even seen the female, he may have unthinkingly leaned away from her. But alas, it was not meant to be. Since this girl had bumped into him just as he was stiffing Matt on his outstretched hand, the hand that was holding the beer that was just handed to him slopped down his entire front. "Fucking…" he grumbled, looking down his shirt. All the boys were now laughing at him. He looked at her retreating back and sneered something along the lines of, "…Your big arse really need that much room to get through?..." Danni's only reaction was to stick her middle finger straight up in the air above her shoulder, high and proud.

Shaking his head, he went back to the current issue of why there was some yank in his pub. But once again, the atmosphere was interrupted by Ellie bounding back to the circle, looking for a place to sit. "What'd I miss?" She huffed. Looking to her right, she got her first full intake of Bovver. Oh, it was a meeting ordained by the gods, my friends. Music played, righteous light shone from the two souls unknowingly desperately seeking the other out, everything else fell away, all that mattered was-

"'Oo the fuck are you, then?" Bovver looked her up and down, bewildered. One of Dave's eyebrows rose. Pete started to move up and say something about being rude. Swill and Ike sat back to enjoy the show, they knew it was going to be good, this would determine what this bird was really like. Ned's eyes were just wide.

Ellie shifted her weight and put a hand on her hip, in full power stance. Cocking an eyebrow, she retorts, "I happen to be Ellie. Who the fuck are _you?_" looking him up and down doubtfully.

Bovver rolls his eyes in a way that it was like his whole body was doing it. He took a drag of his cigarette and gestured with open arms back to the boys, "Another fucking yank! The whole pubs swarmin' with 'em! What the 'ell? This place used to be respectable an' now it's goin' down the shit drain." He shakes his head and moves to push past her to sit, but his mind is boggled when she actually deigns to respond.

"Well you're a fucking tea guzzling Brit, but I don't hold that against _you, _do I? Now do you have an ego problem because you're the runt of the group, or do you just have the basic package of mommy issues? And I'm sure if you just wiped that sneer off your face from whatever shit you stepped in when you got out of bed stuck to your foot, you'd be quite attractive and then maybe you wouldn't be so sexually frustrated, either." She was still rolled onto one hip, head high, eyebrow still raised. The only thing she needed to do was sprout an afro and snap her fingers. There was that inner black woman again, so close to the surface.

Blinking a few times, Bovver wasn't sure what all she just said. One, because he was so caught off guard, most birds just huffed and traipsed off to whatever other bloke they could annoy the fuck out of. Two, because she talked so fast and so articulately. He stood up straight, on of the few times anybody had ever seen, and got really close to this sodding quin who didn't know what good for her, talking dangerously low. Nearly two inches from her face, he murmured, "I don't know wot's got it in yer 'ead that I give two shits 'bout wot you think, but it's got you sadly mistaken. Now why don' you just go over there and play like a good little girlie?" He then backed away, spun her around by the arm, and pushed her so slightly away with a hand on her butt.

See, Ellie had just been contemplating how attractive the man with the ridiculous temper was, and just about to kiss him, when he touched her. Oh no. You don't touch her unless it's her idea, especially if it's in a direction she didn't particularly care for. Like away from all the attractive Brits, for instance. Finishing the whirl our Bovver had put her in, she grabs his hand that had dared gravitate toward her hind end and twisted, hard, but only for a moment. When she had Bov at a awkward angle, she grabs his pinkie finger, bends it, and clinches it in, pinching. Effectively giving him the worst Charlie horse in his hand possible, Bovver starts to sink to his knees. Mouth half open and eyes wide in pain, all he could do was kneel at her mercy.

Pete's mouth was hanging open, not sure if he should laugh or help his friend. As he was about to get up to talk Ellie down, when she said calmly, "Don't bother. I'm not doing permanent damage. It's just a simple kung fu move. He'll be fine, just sore for a few minutes when I let him go." At that moment Danni popped up from nowhere behind Ellie, watching what she was doing with a blank expression and a tilted head.

Bovver was hissing in pain now, if only to keep from crying or screaming. Ellie relaxed her grip infinitesimally, but not enough to let him go. Danni held her hand up, and dropped a set of keys into the air, and Ellie lazily reached over and caught them. "Thanks," Ellie didn't even glance her way, she was planning what to do next. Danni simply turned around and headed back toward the door, headed to the grocery store. Terry was on his way over, trying to get to the center of what half the pub was staring at, when Ellie let go of Bovver, whose arm promptly dropped. But before he could recover, Ellie pushed him down with one booted leg and sat on him, straddling his stomach. Terry stopped, threw his hands in the air around his head, and immediately retreated to behind the bar again.

Laying down slightly more, she got close enough to his face so that her boobs were just pressing against his chest, making it all look very dirty, and whispered, "No one touches my ass, it's very ticklish," and right in front of god and everyone, laid a thick kiss on Bovver's lips.

A/N: I wasn't quite sure how or where I was going to end this chapter, so if it feels awkward at the end, I'm tired. Sorry. But here's an extra long chapter for all you lovely bodacious readers who bear with me on the short ones and long gaps between postings. Much love, Strangefish.


	9. Happy holidays!

Alright, you lovely readers, the next chapter's coming, I promise, but as a filler-between, I thought I'd give you a holiday special! :D

You can all ask the characters some questions, as many characters and questions as you like, and I'll prolly be able to get to them. Anyway, ask them whatever you want, and they'll answer. J

Happy holidays, everybody!

-strangefish


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